Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161 – 166

Micro slit machining using electro-discharge machining with a

modified rotary disk electrode (RDE)
H.M. Chow *, B.H. Yan, F.Y. Huang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central Uni6ersity, Chung-Li, 32054, Taiwan, ROC

Received 31 December 1998

Abstract

To circumvent the high cost of micro electro-discharge machining (MEDM) with superfine wire, the authors modified a
conventional electro-discharge machine (EDM) by fitting a rotating disk as the electrode (RDE). Locating the electrode below the
workpiece in the modified RDE-EDM, the debris removal rate was greatly improved. Further, by an improved fixture design to
stabilize electrode vibration during machining and by a revised circuit designation to reduce the discharge current, micro slit
machining was made feasible in practical application. A 42 mm-wide micro slit with a depth of 1.02 mm was fabricated successfully
on a Ti–6Al–4V workpiece by using 25 mm thickness copper as the material of the rotating disk electrode and kerosene as the
dielectric fluid. The effects of polarity, discharge current, pulse duration and rotational speed on the material removal rate
(MRR), the electrode wear rate (EWR), the expansion of slit, the surface profile and the recast layer of micro slit machining are
reported and discussed. © 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Electrode wear rate (EWR); Expansion; Micro electro-discharge machining (MEDM); Material removal rate (MRR); Polarity;
Rotating disk electrode (RDE)

1. Introduction wire. A revised technique in applying RDE-EDM is

In recent years the studying of micro electro mechan-
ical systems (MEMS) has resulted in much research
interest and in the manufacture of precision products
such as micro-pumps, micro-engines, and micro-robots
that have been demonstrated successfully in industrial
applications. The technique of precision machining for
such tiny devices has become increasingly important
[1 – 4]. Nevertheless, classical electro-discharge machin-
ing (EDM) including wire EDM and die-sinker EDM,
is not suitable for MEMS application. Micro electro-
discharge machining (MEDM) with micro wire has
been applied to MEMS for the past decade, but
MEDM equipment is too expensive to be able to be
used widely. Wire EDM machine with superfine wire as
the electrode is required in this method, but Wire EDM
suffers from the breakage susceptibility of the superfine
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-3-4267336; fax: + 886-3-
4254501.
E-mail address: bhyen@cc.ncu.edu.tw (H.M. Chow)
therefore proposed here to overcome the above men-
tioned drawbacks. This new application of RDE-EDM
machining is achieved by locating the rotating disk
electrode below the workpiece to improve the debris
removal rate. The benefits of this modified RDE-EDM
also include the obtaing of an improved EDMed circuit
system that reduces the discharge current, and the
offering of a compact designation to stabilize RDE
vibration during machining.
Titanium alloy is applied widely in the aerospace
industries due to its high specific strength and high
corrosion resistance. However, it is a difficult material
in terms of machining due to its high spring-back
characteristics and low heat-conduction coefficient [5,6].
Few works have been reported, that are concerned with
related fields over the past decades, especially for the
micro slitting of titanium (Ti) alloy. Eventually, the
authors chose the widely used material Ti–6Al –4V as
the machining sample in this study to demonstrate the
feasibility of micro machining using the modified RDE-
EDM.

0924-0136/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 4 3 5 - X
162 H.M. Chow et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161–166

Table 1
The RDE-EDM experimental conditions

Conditions

Electrode size Cu, D = f42 mm, t= 25, 50, 75,

100 mm
Workpiece Ti–6Al–4V, t = 0.45 mm
Polarity Negative (−), positive (+)
Dielectric Kerosene
Peak current Ip (A) 0.06, 0.1, 0.5
High voltage (V) 280
Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of EDM with: (a) a conventional rotating Gap voltage (V) 25
disk electrode (RDE) and; (b) a modified RDE. Note that the relative Duty factor 0.55
position of the workpiece and the RDE is reversed in the modified Pulse duration tp (ms) 2, 5, 10, 20
RDE-EDM. Working time (min) 4
Revolutions of electrode 0, 10, 20, 50, 150
(rpm)

2. Experimental procedure

The modified RDE-EDM developed in this study
consists of a modified non-micro EDM machine (a
die-sinking EDM) with a rotating disk electrode
(RDE). As shown in Fig. 1(b) one of the most im-
portant key features of the present modified RDE-
EDM is the location of the RDE which is set below
the workpiece. This is in contrast with conventional
RDE-EDMs, in which the RDE is located above the
workpiece. As shown in Fig. 1(a), gravitational force
causes the conventional RDE to discharge the debris
from the gap, thus reducing the material removal rate
[7]. The gravitational force in the new design facili-
tates, contrarily, a greater contribution to the im-
provement of the debris removal rate. Another key
feature of the RDE-EDM is the modified sliding
fixture design, which was done by holding the rotat-
ing disk electrode on the edge to stabilize RDE vibra-
tion during machining. This modification of the
RDE-EDM has enabled processing by precision mi-
cro-machining. The EDMed circuit system was also
revised to reduce the discharge current in the
modified RDE-EDM. A detailed schematic diagram
of the modified RDE-EDM is depicted in Fig. 2. As
shown, a thin circular copper plate of four different
thicknesses (i.e. 25, 50, 75, and 100 mm) was used as
the RDE electrode. Kerosene, which served as the
dielectric fluid, was introduced continuously into the
gap between the electrode and the workpiece. The
workpiece in the present experiment was a rectangular
block of Ti–6Al–4V material. The detailed experi-
mental parameters are summarized in Table 1. The
target depth of the micro slit is 1.02 mm.

Fig. 2. A detailed schematic diagram of the modified RDE-EDM proposed in this study.
 H.M. Chow et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161–166
Fig. 3. The material removal depth vs. the rpm of the RDE electrode
with the discharge current as a parameter.
3. Experimental results and discussion
The effects of the polarity, the discharge current, the
pulse duration and the rpm of the RDE on the removal
characteristics such as the material removal rate
(MRR), the electrode wear rate (EWR), the expansion
of the slit and the surface profile were studied in this
work. The material removal rate and electrode wear
rate versus electrode rotation speed with the discharge
current as a parameter are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The
material removal rate increases initially, reaches maxi-
mum values at around 10 – 20 rpm, and decreases again
at higher rotation speed (\50 rpm); whilst the elec-
trode wear rate increases monotonically with increasing
electrode rotational speed. The former was because the
relative motion between the electrode and the work-
piece increased the debris removal rate, whilst latter
might be due to the large centrifugal force at high
rotational speed that made it difficult for the dielectric
fluid to flow into the gap, thus decreasing the discharge
activity. The workpiece was located at the top of the
rotating disk electrode in the present modified RDE-
EDM, thus the debris removal mechanism was in-
Fig. 4. The electrode wear vs. the rpm of the RDE electrode with the
discharge current as a parameter.
163
Fig. 5. The effects of electrode thickness on the material removal
depth, the expansion of the slit, and the electrode wear.
creased not only by the rotating electrode but also by
the gravity of the debris itself. A greater MRR was
consequently attainable in this modified arrangement.
The effects of electrode thickness of the material
removal depth and the electrode wear rate are shown in
Fig. 5, a thicker electrode results in a greater MRR and
a lesser EWR indicated in Fig. 5. The MRR for an
electrode with a thickness of 25 mm was 1/3 of that for
an electrode with a thickness of 100 mm,the interpreta-
tion of which could be that, at a discharge current
Ip = 0.1A, the discharge density was too high for an
EDM process to be stable. An optimized discharge
density could be reached by using a thicker electrode,
the optimized arrangement posibbly allowing the use of
a greater material removal depth and therefore result-
ing in less electrode wear.
The polarity effects on the MRR and the expansion
of slit were shown in Figs. 6 and 7, for which the
machining conditions are: Ip = 0.1A; the discharge time
Fig. 6. The material removal depth vs. the pulse duration for both
negative discharge polarity and positive discharge polarity.
164 H.M. Chow et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161–166

image of Fig. 8 are consistent with the present hypoth-

esis. The deposit carbon reacts with Ti to form TiC
which has a high melting point above 3150°C and
requires a greater energy density to be removed with
positive polarity: this also accounts for lower MRR
with positive polarity.
The expansion of the slit is an important index of
precision in the micro machining process. The effects of
the discharge energy (i.e. the pulse duration) on the
MRR and the expansion of the slit as a function of the
discharge current under negative polarity were studied,
the results being shown in Figs. 9 and 10. As shown in
Fig. 9, optimum current density and pulse duration
were required to obtain the greatest material removal
Fig. 7. The expansion of the slit vs. the pulse duration for both
negative discharge polarity and positive discharge polarity. rate. Too-long a pulse duration (e.g. \ 6 ms) or too-
high a discharge current (e.g. 0.5 A) result only in a
was 4 min, and; the pulse duration was varied between lower removal rate and worse surface conditions. This
2 and 20 ms. The MRR was greater with negative is because the debris cannot be effectively removed
polarity (i.e. workpiece was at negative potential rela-
tive to the electrode) than it was with positive polarity,
except for when employing a very short pulse duration
(i.e. 2 ms). The cathode had a greater current density
when a very short pulse duration is in operation, there-
fore, a greater electron injection efficiency can be
reached. This happened an the RDE with a smaller
area was used as the cathode (i.e., positive polarity) to
replace the workpiece,the latter now used as the
cathode (i.e. negative polarity). Thus, a higher MRR
was observed with adopting the RDE-EDM as the
cathode. However, in handling the positive-polarity
condition, the dissociated carbons element in the dielec-
tric fluid tend to adhere to the anode (Ti alloy), which
may form a TiC recast layer by solid solubilization and
then diffuse gradually during sample melting and so-
lidification in the EDM process [8]. This phenomenon
may, somehow, reduce the material removal rate. Fur-
thermore, the melting point of TiC (3150°C) is about
twice that of Ti (1660°C). It is more desirable to adopt
a negative polarity in a acquiring low EWR and a high
MRR. This practice is adopted in the present work.
The effects of polarity were also studied by examin-
ing SEM photographs of the finished workpiece. Fig.
8(a) shows an SEM view of the completed workpiece.
The depth of the slit was twice the depth with negative
polarity than it was with positive polarity for the same
machining time with the same discharge current and
pulse duration. The vertical profile also shows a better
performance with the negative polarity. Fig. 8(b) shows
an SEM picture of the bottom of the slit. The thermal-
effect area was smaller and the recast layer was thinner
with negative polarity. Fig. 8(c) shows an SEM picture
for the finished surface of the slit. More sub-crack
surfaces are observed with positive polarity, which is Fig. 8. Cross-sectional SEMs of micro slits obtained by both positive
consistent with the lower MRR associated with positive and negative discharge polarities for: (a) the outlook of the slit; (b)
polarity. The surface conditions shown in the SEM the bottom of the slit, and; (c) the surface of the slit.
 H.M. Chow et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161–166
Fig. 9. The material removal depth vs. the pulse duration with
discharge current as a parameter (the negative discharge polarity is
adopted).
from the micro slit under these conditions. A smaller
pulse duration results in smaller expansion of the slit, as
indicated in Fig. 10. Only a small slit expansion was
obtained at the low discharge current of 0.06 A and a
pulse duration of 2– 5 ms with negative polarity.
Finally, both single and multiple micro-slits were
fabricated on a Ti– 6Al – 4V workpiece under the opti-
mum machining condition, i.e. Ip =0.06 A, tp =2 ms,
and 20 rpm. As shown in Fig. 11 for a single-slit
structure, the resultant width of the slit was 42 mm, and
the depth was 1.02 mm, when using a 25 mm thick
RDE. Fig. 12 shows the results for a 10-slit microstruc-
ture using a 50 mm thick RDE. The tolerance of the slit
and slit depth is 91 mm, and 95 mm, respectively. The
electrode wear was found to be very small in this case.
The uniform wear in the radial direction was reduced to
0.02 mm after the carrying out of the machining of the
10-slit microstructure process.
Fig. 10. The expansion of the slit vs. pulse duration with discharge
current as a parameter ( the negative discharge polarity is adopted).
165
Fig. 11. A photograph of a single-slit microstructure fabricated under
the optimum discharge conditions: electrode: Cu( +); workpiece:
Ti – 6Al – 4V(− ); t =0.45 mm; thickness of electrode: 25 mm; Ip =
0.06 A; tp =2 ms; cutting time, 4 min; dielectric, kerosine; depth of
slit: 1.02 mm; width of slit: 42 mm. The micro slit is compared with a
hair.
4. Conclusions
The authors have demonstrated successfully that in
this study classical EDM with a modified rotary disk
electrode (RDE) can be used for micro slit machining .
A 0.42 mm wide, 1.02 mm deep micro slit was fabri-
cated successfully on a Ti–6Al–4V workpiece using a
25 mm thickness copper for the rotating disk electrode
and kerosene as the dielectric fluid. Some important
conclusions are summarized below:
1. The modified RDE-EDM can improve material re-
moval rate (MRR) by locating the workpiece above
the RDE, thus efficiently increasing the debris re-
Fig. 12. Photograph of a multiple-slit microstructure (with 10 slits)
fabricated under optimum discharge conditions: workpiece: Ti–6Al–
4V( −); workpiece size: 0.4 × 0.4 × 1.2 mm; Ip =0.1 A; tp = 5 ms;
electrode: Cu( + ); thickness of electrode: 50 mm; dielectric: kerosene.
166 H.M. Chow et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 91 (1999) 161–166
moval rate. Electrode wear rate (EWR) also de-
creases uniformly around the periphery of the disk
electrode with this modified arrangement. The posi-
tion accuracy and vibrational stability of RDE in
the present design are improved over those of classi-
cal RDE-EDM to achieve a high standard of micro
slit machining.
2. Although Ti is known to be a difficult material to
cut, an MRR as high as 1.5 mm3 min − 1 is demon-
strated in this study with the modified RDE-EDM,
using the optimum working condition at 10–20
rpm, a discharge current of 0.1 A, and a pulse
duration of 5 mm.
3. Optimized discharge current is essential because the
temperature during discharge is extremely sensitive
to the discharge current due to the small area of the
micro slit. A greater MRR and lower EWR can be
obtained by properly optimizing the discharge cur-
rent.
4. Negative polarity for the workpiece was adopted for
the present micro machining. A greater MMR and
lower EWR in the machining of the Ti alloy process
was observed under such working polarity.
5. The finished surface of the slit shows less cracking,
less recast layer and a smaller expansion of the slit
with negative polarity which later is recommended
for further work in this and similar fields. However,
the cracking, the recast layer, and the expansion of
the slit all increase as pulse duration increase.
6. The best working conditions are: Ip = 0.06 A; tp =2
mm, and; 20 rpm to obtain the smallest slit width in
these experiments. However the optimium condi-
tions may be different when applied to other EDM
processes. A preliminary calibration of each EDM
process to acquire the optimization is therefore es-
sential in applying this new technique.
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